Profits soar at the travel operator owned by the businessman behind the Fitzwilliam Hotel
Irish Welcome Tours is owned by Michael Holland, who also runs the Four Star Pizza franchise.
PROFITS ALMOST DOUBLED last year to more than €4 million at Irish Welcome Tours, a travel operator owned by well-known businessman Michael Holland.
The company is completely owned by Holland, one of the country’s most recognised hoteliers, the man behind the Fitzwilliam venues in Dublin and Belfast.
Accounts just filed for Irish Welcome Tours show that the firm made a net profit of €4.1 million during 2015, up from €2.2 million the year before.
Set up in 1989, the firm is one of the nation’s largest tour operators and has several sub-brands such as Authentic Ireland, which specialises in selling trips to Canadian tourists.
The company’s turnover rose from just under €33 million to almost €39 million, while its operating profit jumped from €3.8 million to over €5 million as the firm’s cost of sales and expenses recorded relatively small increases.
New opportunities
The company’s cost of servicing its loans also fell, further helping to strengthen its bottom line. The firm had bank loans of about €24 million outstanding as of the end of the year.
Staff costs came to just under €5 million, up from €4.8 million in 2014. The company employed 163 people during 2015 compared to 147 the year before.
The accounts note that “key management personnel including the senior management team” received remuneration of just under half a million euro, although the number of people that shared this payment was not stated.
Irish Welcome Tours organises trips around the country
The report said that the directors are satisfied with the company’s performance throughout the year and added that the company is on the lookout for new opportunities in the hospitality and tourism sectors.
It said that the directors “do not consider that the group has any significant exposure to financial risk (and) the directors are fully aware of the challenges such as the cyclical nature of the hospitality sector and the competition”.
Irish Welcome Tours declined to comment when contacted by Fora.
Michael Holland
Michael Holland is the company’s sole shareholder. The controller of the Ampleforth Group hospitality business, he owns the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin which hosts the Michelin-starred Thornton’s restaurant.
Last year one of his companies also purchased the 130-bedroom Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast in a €23 million deal.
In 2011 another Holland firm bought the Bailey Bar in Dublin city centre and acquired the Four Star Pizza chain. The firm, which was in examinership at the time, was one of the country’s largest takeout franchises, with 40 outlets employing about 400 people.
